The Apollo 7 earbuds finally bring you true, cable-free music

Wireless headphones and earbuds are the future.

Companies have spent the last decade improving Bluetooth headphones. Wireless headphones still aren’t perfect, but if you’re willing to spend big money, you’ll find there are some really good-sounding and stylish ones out there. (Some funkier than others.)

Wireless earbuds, on the other hand, are just now starting to truly cut the cord.

Compared to wireless earbuds like LG’s Tone, Samsung’s Level U or Sol Republic’s Shadow, Erato’s Apollo 7 wireless earbuds don’t have any wires connecting the left and right earbuds. They also don't look like space necklaces shackled around your neck.

Wire-free wireless earbuds aren't an entirely new idea, but they are catching on quickly as the tech inside gets smaller and smaller to make it all possible.

Bullets in your ears

The Apollo 7 earbuds don’t come with any fancy features like some of wireless earbuds out there. Bragi’s Dash, for example, has a cool fitness trainer-like assistant, and the Here earbuds let you adjust the volume of your surroundings (really!). The Apollo 7 earbuds are all about listening to music, which is exactly what we need in today’s gimmick-filled gadget world.

The earbuds are light (weigh four grams) and water- and sweat-resistant. They're large for earbuds, but small considering all the components inside. Someone told me they looked like bullets in my ears. I have small ears, so they didn't fit quite as deep, but they never fell out when I wore them.

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Included with the earbuds are a couple of different ear tips. One pair reminds me of the ones from Jaybird's X2 headphones. They didn't fit in my ears so I can't say if they help keep the Apollo 7 earbuds in place, but my friends who run and work out tell me the ear tips do help.

They look like bullets in your ears.

Pairing the wireless earbuds takes only a few seconds. But be warned: It’s not as obvious like pairing any other Bluetooth headphones. To pair, you need to put one earbud in your ear, press and hold down the power button and keep holding it downing until you hear "pairing." Then you put in the other earbud, press the power button and wait until the two earbuds sync up when you hear "headset connected." After that, you go into your Bluetooth settings, locate the Apollo 7 earbuds and connect them.

It sounds more complicated than it really is. I tested a pre-production version so mine didn’t come with any retail packaging or instruction manual. But once a company spokesperson sent me the manual, it wasn’t ever hard to remember the process for future pairings with other devices.

Audio kick

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The Apollo 7 earbuds sound pretty good for Bluetooth earbuds. The earbuds support the AAC, SBC and AptX audio codecs.

Highs are crisp and mids are warm. Adele and Beyoncé sound really great through the earbuds. Yes, even One Direction sounds pretty good. It was a joy to listen to Coltrane with the Apollo 7 earbuds as well. As expected, the Apollo 7 earbuds don't provide much in terms of deep bass.

They're not the best earbuds I've ever used, but they have fuller sound than pack-in wired earbuds like Apple's EarPods or the crappy earbuds that come with a Samsung Galaxy phone.

The one thing you don't want to do with the Apollo 7 earbuds is connect them while watching video. It didn't matter whether they were connected to my Mac, iPhone or iPad -- the audio never synced correctly with the video.

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Each earbud has a button on it and depending on how you press it or if you long press it, it'll activate different functions. (You can see the functions above.) They can be confusing at first, and I kept accidentally triggering the wrong function, but if you commit to them they'll become second nature.

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Erato claims the earbuds are good for three hours on a single charge and I got exactly that. Five minutes before the battery dies, you'll hear a "battery low" warning. The storage case doubles as a charging case (via Micro USB) and an on-the-go charger. The charging case has enough power to recharge the earbuds twice over. The only turnoff is it takes 2.5 hours to charge up the earbuds.

Death to wires

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I've only been using the Apollo 7 earbuds for the last few days and I already hate regular wired earbuds. I like not having to deal with tangly wires. I also like not having to tuck my earbuds under my messenger bag strap so they don't get in the way when I take my bag off. 

I already hate regular wired earbuds.

Erato sent me a pre-production unit and though I did experience a few issues -- intermittent Bluetooth connectivity whenever I got an Apple Watch notification and random static -- I'm hoping these issues will be ironed out in final version.

So the Apollo 7 earbuds are mostly good news. The bad news... they cost $299 when they come out in June ($249 if you snag an early bird special on Kickstarter). Still, if you live life on the cutting-edge, the Apollo 7 earbuds are solid for wireless earbuds. They're prettier than the hideous space necklace options I mentioned earlier. 

Getting the future today has never been cheap. From here, Erato only needs to make the sound batter (like improving bass) and lower the price. We'll get there eventually, but first baby steps.

Erato Apollo 7 wireless earbuds

The Good

• Completely wire-free

• Handy charging-storage case

• Water and sweatproof

• Good sound

The Bad

• Dorky blinking lights

• Lag when used for watching videos

• Long recharge time

• Confusing button controls

The Bottom Line

The Apollo 7 are a pair of good-sounding, wire-free earbuds that pave the way for the future.

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